Diaper Rash

You have your first official diaper rash and boy is it terrible. Your little bum is so red and raw looking. I feel so helpless. I have been faithful to change your diaper more than needed but you have been waking up in the middle of the night screaming for your diaper to be changed. I wish there was more I can do than slather on the cream, give you oatmeal baths (which you really enjoyed, you got me soaked with your splashing, I think you finally felt relief.) and powder you bum. I wish I could find some magical cream or wash or something to make it all go away. I'm not sure what is causing the issue. We might have to make a doctors appointment. I just want you to feel better. You are such a trooper, only whimpering or crying at diaper changes and the rest of the day you act fine, as if nothing is bothering you. I'm wondering if the zinc cream or the cream with aloe is any better. I try to buy organic and natural whenever I can but the price on some of them is a little much to just buy all of them and see which one works. But if that's what it comes down to, I will gladly do it! Anything for you. Anything to take away the pain. Poor little boy. I rocked you to sleep, prayed over you and laid you down in your crib. You cried a little, not so happy that I put you down but, now some good rest for both of us.

Love,
Mommy/ hurting with you

Sweet sweet boy!!

The other night I was feeding you your bed time bottle. As you lay relaxed and gobbling in my arms you reached your hand out to grab mine and you gently rubbed my hand as you ate. It was the sweetest thing in the world. My heart melted! 

Then last night your Daddy and I walked through the door and were greeted by you. It was 10pm! You had woken up crying, most likely because you had received a flu shot that day. Daddy held you as I gave you some Tylenol. You love your Daddy very much but we could tell you wanted me. I took you and tried to calm you, sitting and rocking, standing and swaying, standing still, sitting still. The only thing that worked was standing swaying and singing this cute little "good night" song I know. 

"Oh, I'm a little owl and my daddy loves me, 

I'm a little owl and my mommy loves me. 

When they tuck me in to say good night, they say, whoo whoo whoo, good night. 

Good Night, Good Night. Good night little owl, Good Night. 

Good Night, Good Night. 

They say whoo whoo whoo, Good Night."

Then I change the animal to tiger, frog, monkey, dog, kitty, elephant, as long as the song needs to keep going and then finally "I'm a little Jakob"

You like that song, I love that song, so because it works for both of us I use it a lot!

Anyways, as I was singing you grabbed your blankie and put your head on my chest. You never do that. You have always refused to be rocked to sleep, too many things going on for you to want to sleep. It was so special to me.  I was not only able to soothe your pain, but help you drift off to sweet sleep.

You are sweet. So very very sweet! 

Love, 

Mommy/you have me wrapped around your finger

10 Months

You turned 10 months old on the 9th so this is a little late. But, better late than never, right?

Things you do:
Clap - when you are excited, pleased with your self or when asked to.
Stand - almost on your own, you pull up on everything regardless of it's stability!
Crawl - like a mad man. You have two speeds, a regular crawl, which is still pretty fast. And then a "mode" where you put your head down and crawl super fast. It's pretty funny!!
Talk - the usual, mama, dada, hi, bye-bye, all done, dog, Ted, up, down occasionally you throw in a whole phrase and you love to babble, about who knows what but you have lots of things to say, some of which you think are very important, you get a serious look on your face and babble, it's the cutest thing.
Wave - I have been trying to get you to wave forever. You have caught on a little, you wave to get people's attention and say hello and sometimes for saying goodbye.
Play - you play with cars and trucks how they were meant to be played with. You make cute/boy noises when zooming your cars on the ground.
Laugh - you have always had quite the personality but now you laugh when YOU think things are funny.
Scream - you have discovered the full range of your voice and sometimes it's ear piercing!
Share - haha, yeah right. When we talk to you about sharing you look at us like, "um, please just give me my toy back!"
Smile - you have been doing this since week 3 but now you do it to flirt. It's amazing. You look at someone and smile this amazing smile and tilt your head a little and bat your eyes! It's so charming!

I'm sure there is something new you will do tomorrow...it's amazing how you change even after a nap, you wake up understanding more, knowing more, doing more, amazing!

We went shopping for fall clothes yesterday and bought size 24 months. Dang, they are big. Even too big for you right now, but they will fit soon. Sooner then I would like to admit! I compared you to the newborn size clothing you wore when you were first born. It made me amazed that you grew so much, changed so much! And it made me want another baby! That day will come and already I have wondered how the heck I will love another person as much as you. I don't know how but I know that my heart will grow to love another baby. But right now you are enough.

This is you in the bath last night! What a cutie you are! 

Happy 10 Months little guy!!

Love,

Mommy/in shock and awe

Stay at Home Mom...

This could get heated little one. I am very passionate about my staying at home with you. I have recently been fed up with people looking at me like I'm crazy when I say I'm a stay at home mom. They either think I'm stupid and couldn't get a job or they think I love being lazy all day! Right! As if all I do is sit on the couch or even play with you all day. I would love if a house took care of it's self, the dog walked itself, bills paid themselves and I had a self filling fridge! I know plenty of mom's work and take care of kids, thats great for you. I didn't have kids to let someone else raise them. I am plenty smart and could totally get a job! But, I choose to have you and raise you as your daddy and I see fit. As you know having two incomes would be great, even a help. But, it's not worth giving up raising you so we can have a one week vacation a year to some place cool. We do fine. You will always have food on the table and cute clothes on your body. As a stay at home mom it's my job to be a smart shopper so we can afford things, cute, fun things too! Don't get me wrong, working mom's don't have it easy and in no way do i disprove of their decisions but for us this is what we have decided. People have asked me what I will do when all my kids are in school. Well, one, you might be home schooled and two, it's not like I don't have a life. I will run errands, prepare awesome after school snacks, bake and oh yeah, run my photography business! Your mommy loves you dearly Jake but, I have things that are my own too. I love to craft, paint, take pictures, sing, play the piano (which you love too), play the guitar and sew! Working wouldn't add anything to my life. I am a mom, this is what I have wanted to do my whole life and now you have made my dream come true! Oh and another thing, you will statistically have higher test scores and are less likely to do drugs and commit a crime! So really I'm saving the world one kid at a time! Ok my rant is done. I love you!
Love,
Mommy/ Proud to stay home with you!

Name Blocks

Your changing station

Train table...someday you will love this..it glows in the dark

Reading/Cuddle area

Activity Corner

Lounging/Reading area...Ted loves this area!!

Your leaves!

Crib and toy storage

Jake this is your room! I love it. It's bright, colorful and invites you to play. All things a kids room should do. It makes me sad when I see baby's rooms in boring pastels. Baby's and kids love to have fun colors and objects to look at. So, when I saw those leaves at Ikea I just knew they were better than any mobile, I had to have them. So we went with a jungle theme. It's fun and bright and you are never bored. You love looking at the leaves above your crib and pointing to the lion above your changing station. Your toy storage is the best too. You can get into your toys all by your self and then the buckets even become toys. I have pushed you around the room in them and you put them on your head and laugh. It also makes for easy clean up, something only a mom would think of. This is your space. I look forward to putting up pictures on the walls and hanging your birthday banner up! You may have to share your room someday but you will always have a special place, to call your own, I promise.

Love, Mommy/ part-time interior decorator!

Today

Your being kind of icky today. Which is totally understandable, you now have 7 teeth and you are working on more I think. You have been at a stand still teething wise for a few months but the other day I look in your mouth and see you have 3 teeth on the bottom. You look a little uneven but still just a cute as ever. Also, you won't let me eat my food any more with out sharing! It's pretty comical the way you reach and whine for my food, even if you have had enough food already! I hope this nap helps you recover a little, poor teething boy.

Love,
Mommy/I promise to share my food!

Drinking out of a straw

You drank apple juice out of a straw today! I was very impressed with how quickly you picked it up. You only choked once, straws let in a lot of liquid! What a big boy you are becoming! You wanted to do this all on your own but you kept sticking the straw down your throat. So we helped you. You were ok with the help as long as you got your juice. I might have just created a juice monster! Sorry buddy you only get juice once a day, if that. Too much sugar not enough fiber. It’s better to just eat some apples!

Love, Mommy/eat an apple a day!

Here are some pictures of your world right now. A lion, that is a punching bag, Your pop up toy, that you are figuring out how to use and a dinosaur rocking horse, that is a necessity for every boy! And of course you and your blankie. You love this blanket! Your nana made it for you and you have become massively attached to it! The funny thing is, I didn't force it on you, you chose this blankie! I wrapped you in it one morning because it was cold and you have never been parted from it since.
Love,
Mommy/Hoping we never loose that blankie!!